Google’s diversity efforts are under fire again due to a discrimination lawsuit filed in January by a former YouTube employee. Arne Wilberg, who claims that Google, in an effort to diversify its 80 percent men workforce, pressured its recruiters to hire exclusively or with a strong preference towards female Hispanic, Latino or black applicants. This lawsuit has recently come to light as a Wall Street Journal report.
On March 2nd The Wall Street Journal made Wilberg´s lawsuit public, as he allegedly stated that Google was suggesting racial discrimination towards Asian and White men as an effort to balance the diversity of their working force. Wilberg stated that the company ignored employee complaints about the marginalizing “Project Mirror,” in which employees would only interview prospects of their own race.
One of the most outstanding lines in the lawsuit is the claim of recruiters complaining about managers speaking of black people as if they were objects.
Once again, this new lawsuit is another addition to Google’s racial turmoil. Tackling their discriminatory controversy has played out as poor or counterproductive on a few occasions prior to this point.
YouTube is not the only Google platform hit by lawsuits
Google has been in gender and racial diversity turmoil for a while now. Tim Chevallier, a former Google engineer who was fired in late 2017, filed a lawsuit earlier this year in which he pointed out that Google´s efforts to protect and maintain a healthy environment for its LGBT and racial minority workers have been completely misguided.
On the other hand, James Damore, a former white male employee, was fired for “advancing harmful gender stereotypes” towards female workers. He ended up filing an action class lawsuit against Google in which he stated was against white conservative males. This case, in fact, turned into a cornerstone for conservatives against the corporative giant.
What does Google have to say for itself?
Google´s spokesperson Gina Scigliano sees the defense of Wilberg’s lawsuit as an opportunity to clarify to the public eye Google´s diversity efforts, policies, and posture regarding racial and gender issues.
Scigliano said that Google is looking forward to defending discriminatory lawsuits: “We have a clear policy to hire candidates based on their merit, not their identity. At the same time, we unapologetically try to find a diverse pool of qualified candidates for open roles, as this helps us hire the best people, improve our culture, and build better products.¨
Google trains its employees to identify unconscious behavior in their labor areas, and among the day to day dynamics the company has stated several times that the head office encourages debate and dialogue in the office, yet they stand with a 0 tolerance policy on discriminatory comments in their offices.
Source: The Wall Street Journal